RDS: Gear Review

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RDS Gear Review

Donnie Myers

Donnie Myers is the owner of 295 Tactical, a private tactical training company. He was a police officer for 12 years for the City of Springfield, and was involved in over 100 crisis entries during his three years on the SWAT Team, and two years on INET (Inter Agency Narcotics Enforcement Team).

“With traditional holsters they have an open-top — great for securing the firearm. However, with the popularity of optic-equipped handguns, when the firearm is vertical in its holster you have a shelf here, a solid glass lens. Wind, debris, mud, even rain if it accumulates on that lens once you draw and bring your optic into your line of sight, will distort or even block your view of the optic.”

“One thing Safariland has done with their new RDS, is they still incorporated the ALS and SLS locking systems for high-level retention, but now they have a protective hood that actually secures over the optic, keeping debris and damage from your red dot sight. If you have level-three retention already it’s still the same draw motion — there’s no learning curve; the top strap flips the protective RDS hood out of the way, and then with your normal grip you release the secondary safeties and you can draw the firearm.”

“Another design feature with the Safariland RDS — it retains the same three-hole mounting pattern. This (holster) we have set up with the QLS. The nice thing with the QLS is with an optic-equipped handgun we can use it in both patrol in the patrol environment with a standard duty belt, or quickly transition to a drop leg holster more commonly used with tactical teams to be able to clear their heavy vests all in just a matter of seconds.”

About Donnie

Donnie Myers has over 35 years of safe handling of firearms, both during his tenure as a police officer, SWAT Team member and as an instructor. Myers has an Advanced Police Officer Certificate with over 1300 training hours from DPSS. He has a wealth of certified experience, and is a DPSST Unarmed Security Professional Instructor, NRA certified Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor, Home Firearm Safety and Refuse to be a Victim Instructor, and Range Safety Officer (RSO).